Top 10 CapRadio Music Stories Of 2014

CapRadio Music launched in June, and even though we’re just six months old, we can’t help but get a little retrospective this time of year. Here are the stories you shared and read the most since the launch.

Around the 4th of July Connections Host, Stephen Peithman, outlined the songs considered for our National Anthem over the years. Turns out, lots of people are interested in the origin of our Nation’s most patriotic songs.

Our digital news editor Marnette Federis jumped in to write this piece on this festival in Oak Park. This colorful and culturally diverse event was birthed at SXSW in Austin by a couple of Sacramento natives.

You would recognize Steve Milne’s voice from your morning commute; he lent his music expertise to this piece on the gypsy jazz movement in the region, looking at Django Reinhardt's legacy and talking with members of regional gypsy jazz groups.

CapRadio Music Editor Melody Stone rode her bike all over Sacramento interviewing different musicians about their music and their day job. From an indie-rocker who sells tractors to a pop-singer who is a singing waiter at a Mexican Restaurant.

2014 was filled with firsts and lasts. Specifically the last of our long running used record and CD sales. Naturally people were pretty curious about why we called it quits, so this story got a lot of reads.

Weird Al’s version of Robin Thicke's hit, Word Crimes is all about grammar errors and was delightful. Even more delight ensued when we discovered the animator behind the hilarious lyric video is a Sacramento native. We got the story behind the video from the man himself.

This year saw the demise of several core live music venues in the scene, none with as much history as Marilyn’s On K. We gathered some of the people closest to the venue to talk about what Marilyn’s meant to the music scene and what we’ll be missing when it’s gone.

While rummaging around in his attic one day local concert promoter found some VHS tapes of old concerts. One of those concerts was Nirvana playing at the Cattle Club in 1990. Another camcorder was in the audience that night and they were able to piece the two recordings together and produce possibly the earliest recording of a live Nirvana show.

This event didn’t just break records for being the largest orchestra assembled in California, but also broke records for number of views on our site. Organized by over very own Sean Bianco, the Symphony of 1000 brought together musicians from all over to play in one single performance at the Memorial Auditorium. Digital Director Al Gibes attended the event and gathered videos and photos of the scene.

After working in newspapers and doing print journalism for years, Melody transitioned into digital marketing and design. With a healthy blend of journalistic and digital media skills she builds out interactive web stories for Capradio.org. Read Full Bio